


Mostly Together

by Luckybuckyboy (Whowantstoknow259)



Series: Probably [2]
Category: Captain America - All Media Types
Genre: Activist Steve Rogers, But also, College Student Steve, Established Relationship, Gay Bucky Barnes, Gay Steve Rogers, Getting Together, M/M, Misunderstandings, Mutual Pining, Non-Serum Steve Rogers/Winter Soldier Bucky Barnes, Oblivious Steve Rogers, Steve does not have the serum but he's still a big boy, but also they were already together, this is peak lesbian comedy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-26
Updated: 2018-03-26
Packaged: 2019-04-08 14:15:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,181
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14107140
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Whowantstoknow259/pseuds/Luckybuckyboy
Summary: Dates, Romance, Museums, Art Galleries, Farmers Markets, Special Dinners, Homemade lunches, Flowers, you know, friendship things





	Mostly Together

**Author's Note:**

> Shinigami24 commented on Mostly Alright that the ending was kind of ambiguous on if Steve and Bucky were together, which inspired this.
> 
> *04/04 edited because I forgot about Steve's gluten allergy*
> 
> I'm [Vilesbian](http://www.vilesbian.tumblr.com)

Bucky’s always been a bit slow on the uptake, and that was before he had his brain fried and then flash frozen. But if Bucky has trouble reading the signs, then Steve might as well be a blind and have both eyes closed. 

 

It’s been three months since the event at A.I.M. and Bucky’s been aggressively attempting to date Steve, and it’s not going well. 

 

Well.

 

Bucky had thought it was going well, until he and Steve kissed while they were watching a movie on his couch and the blonde had given him a bewildered look and asked Bucky what about Clint. 

 

Whom he thought that Bucky was dating. 

 

Because Steve thought that they were just friends.

 

Just friends who ate together multiple times a week, went out to fancy restaurants, movies, museums, and art galleries often, and generally spent almost every moment apart texting each other flirtatious messages.

 

Bucky had taken to putting together tupperware lunches for Steve to take with him to class and work because when Steve told him about his struggles to fit enough protein into a soba noodle bowl based diet it had made Bucky sad for Steve in the way that seeing dirty animals in those humane society commercials made him sad. For just five minutes a day he could rescue the poor college student from his diet of sodium and noodles. 

 

Elaborate, nutritionally balanced lunches that take all of Steve allergies into account, you know, just normal friend things.

 

And sure, things between them had been slow--physically-- but Bucky was fine with that. His only frame of reference for romantic relationships had been the dates he’d taken girls on in the 1940’s as a closeted gay man. Sure he was big, mean, and aggressive looking  _ now _ but that didn’t mean he had a whole lot of experience making the first move.

 

Plus Steve was a year and also fifty two years younger than Bucky and simultaneously much more and much less experienced in the world. Bucky didn’t want to be the pushy older boyfriend putting pressure on him.

 

But three months and a lot of dates were surely enough time to make a move without being pushy, so he thought it would be romantic to take Steve somewhere especially nice and then have their first kiss as a real couple. 

 

The first part of the evening had got excellently. With Natalia’s help he’d gotten them into one of the nicest restaurants in all of New York and then they’d come back to Bucky’s apartment where he’d served the same flourless chocolate torte with gluten dark beer caramel sauce just like he’d made the first time they’d eaten together (and also had eaten four deli meat sandwiches quickly because to fully feed himself at the restaurant would have cost literally thousands of dollars instead of the still outrageously high hundreds). 

 

Then Bucky’d put in a comedy that they’d already seen and enjoyed because Natalia had said that allow them to make out. Which worked because as he was gathering the finished plates of their dessert to take to the kitchen, Steve had leaned and planted a gentle kiss on Bucky’s lips. 

 

It had been magical and sweet and domestic, and really everything Bucky’d ever wanted. 

 

For like ten seconds.

 

Then Steve pushed him away and said, “I can’t believe I did that. I can’t believe I would do that to Clint.”

 

Leaving Bucky where he currently was, staring at Steve in baffled confusion while balancing dessert plates, forks, and the remains of a flourless chocolate torte.

 

“I should go,” Steve said after about a minute of silence, “I’m--I should go.”

 

Bucky snapped out of his confusion.

 

“No you should stay right there so I can put these down and we can talk about whatever that just was.”

 

“No, I’ve humiliated myself enough, I’ll see you later Bucky.”

 

“What is happening right now? Steve no, sit down, and explain to me why you should leave, what you did to Clint, and why are you humiliated?” Bucky set the dishes down on the coffee table to try and grab Steve’s hand, “I thought we were having a nice night.”

 

“We were and then I managed to ruin everything.” 

 

The poor blonde meatball looked so distressed and Bucky was so confused.

 

“What?”

 

“It’s just Bucky I like you, like a lot.”

 

“I like you a lot too Steve.”

 

“ _ No _ , I  _ like _ you, and sometimes, like, that confuses me. Like tonight, it just felt so much like a date that I got carried away.”

 

“Um, but it was a date.”

 

“What?”

 

“It was a date, we been dating, oh my god were we not dating?!” Bucky cried.

 

“Oh my god, have we been dating?!” Steve exclaimed at the exact same time.

 

“I thought we were.”

 

“I thought you were dating Clint.”

 

“ _ What? _ ”

 

So Steve explained how when they were doing the clean up and debriefing from A.I.M. Clint had called Bucky babydoll, sugar tits, and honey bunches of oats several times and Steve had assumed they were dating. Ergo, all of Steve and Bucky’s interactions, the gifts, flirting, and multiple dates had been friendship activities. Like friendship trips to the farmers market and friendship baking Steve gluten free vegan cookies to take to his activist meetings. 

 

“Well first of all Clint was one hundred percent not talking to me when he was using those pet names. That’s what he calls Coulson, our boss, when he feels left out, it drives Coulson nuts. So.” Bucky explained, “And also I specially invited you to dinner, as a date.”

 

“A friendship date.”

 

“I told you that I had been lonely for a long time and I was so glad I’d found someone that I could possibly share my life with.”

 

“Yeah, Clint.”

 

“When would I have time to even date Clint, most of my time is spent with you.”

 

“I know, and I didn’t want to question it, it felt so nice, sometimes I’d just pretend that he didn’t exist and we really were dating. You can ask my roommate, I was really pathetic.”

 

“Oh no, oh Steve.”

 

“So if we really were dating, are we still?”

 

“Of course we are.”

 

It helped that Bucky wasn’t the only person in the relationship that didn’t have hang ups and insecurities. To convince Steve that he liked the way he was a crusader, didn’t mind his moral hang ups or medical issues, was not in fact into him despite those things but just considered them part of what made Steve so amazing.

 

When Natasha heard she had laughed for ten minutes and then said she was angry that they had got not one but two obnoxious meet cutes. Then as punishment she had promptly told Clint who’d made kissy faces and asked Bucky if he was cheating on him with Steve until Bucky reminded him that his current kill record was 97 and that he was valuable enough to S.H.I.E.L.D. that probably nothing would happen if that record was bumped up to 98.  


End file.
